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The name
France lets the museum use the Louvre name until 2047
The Louvre Abu Dhabi runs under an agreement between the UAE and France, signed in March 2007, that allows it to use the Louvre's name until 2047. It is the largest art museum in the Arabian Peninsula.
2047the year the use of the Louvre name runs until
The dome
Jean Nouvel designed a dome that seems to float
Abu Dhabi selected Jean Nouvel as architect in 2006. His team designed a seemingly floating dome with a web pattern that lets the sun filter through, meant to represent rays of sunlight passing through date palm fronds in an oasis.
The stars
The dome is made of 7,850 aluminium stars in eight layers
The engineers realised the dome from 7,850 aluminium stars of varying sizes, which tessellate over eight layers to create a perforated roof that lets sunlight through. Tidal pools within the galleries give the illusion of a museum in the sea.
7,850aluminium stars in the dome
The opening
Expected in 2012, the museum was inaugurated in November 2017
When announced in 2007 the museum was expected to open in 2012. It was inaugurated on 8 November 2017 by French President Emmanuel Macron, and opened to the public three days later.
Public art
Jenny Holzer's limestone sculpture carries texts in three scripts
Jenny Holzer made a sculpture in white limestone for a courtyard under the dome. It carries engraved excerpts in three scripts: a Sumerian and Akkadian creation myth, the Muqaddimah of Ibn Khaldun in Arabic, and Essays by Michel de Montaigne in French.
Day 6, morning
Next is Saadiyat Public Beach.
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The words are a retelling of the Wikipedia article Louvre Abu Dhabi, and are shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. They are checked against those articles, and a fact that is not in them is left out.